


Weekend in Stanford

by shadowglove88



Series: Champions Series [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Smallville, Supernatural
Genre: Chloe Lois and Clark are vigilantes, F/M, Lois makes the worse of first impressions re Wesley, Lying About Age, Sam is still packing heat in Stanford, Stanford, Zoners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-21
Updated: 2009-02-21
Packaged: 2019-07-05 07:24:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15858960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowglove88/pseuds/shadowglove88
Summary: When Chloe, Clark and Lois hunt down a Zoner to the Stanford campus in California, their paths cross with new arrival Sam Winchester. Attraction blooms strong but he doesn't know she's only 16.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT:
> 
> Supernatural: Set during Sam's first couple of months at Stanford. So it's PRE-series. That would make him 20.
> 
> Smallville: Set in an AU Smallville in which Chloe always had her abilities since being caught in the meteor shower with her mother at two years of age, and Lois Lane came to live with Chloe when Chloe was thirteen and Lois fourteen. Right now, since Chloe is four years younger than Sam, she's sixteen-and things have obviously happened in different timelines with Smallville. Oh, yeah, and Chloe's powers are slightly different from cannon. Lois also knows about Clark, both she and Chloe found out early in their friendship with the farmboy.

" _Phoenix, come in Phoenix."_  The voice called urgently from her earpiece, but Chloe was a little busy training her gun on the stranger to answer. " _Phoenix! Boy Wonder has made contact with the hostile. They are three blocks from your current location. If you can hear me get there immediately, he's in need of backup."_

Chloe would have liked nothing better than to go and help Clark round up the newest and rowdiest prisoner to have escaped from the  _Phantom Zone_  so far, but right now she was faced off with a handsome yet armed brunet glaring at her and training his sawed off at her.

The blonde really didn't have a clear recollection of how the tall brunette and her had ended up in this situation. All she knew was that she, Clark and Lois had followed the Zoner up to where he had possessed a student from Stanford, and a fight had ensued. Somehow she'd gotten separated from Clark, and had ended up running into this guy, realized he was armed the same time he realized  _she_  was armed-and had pulled their guns out at the same time.

"Aren't you a little young to be carrying that around?" The man asked, voice wary, eyes narrowed.

"Young? I'm just  _short,_ " Chloe deadpanned, inside wary and more than a little annoyed. The guy was a  _giant_. He was even taller than  _Clark_! And  _that_  was saying something.

" _Christo_." Those eyes, which she couldn't decide whether were green or blue, widened in surprise and he slackened the hold on his gun slightly.

" _Phoenix! Boy Wonder is down! I repeat. Boy Wonder is DOWN!_ " Lois' voice called from her earpiece. " _Why the hell aren't you moving? You're needed,_ _stat_!"

"Look, I don't have  _time_  for this, so just don't take this personally." Subtly, Chloe opened the palm of her free hand and concentrated, drawing the power for the heat to form, yet not making it intense enough to burst into flames. With a flick of her wrist she sent the blast of scalding air towards him, taking the young man off guard and sending him flying against the closest wall.

The blonde turned and ran, pressing the button on her earpiece as she hurried in the direction Lois, their  _All-Seeing-Eye_  had told her to. "What's the stat on Boy Wonder?"

" _Phoenix_!  _Where have you been?_ " Lois' voice was urgent. " _The Zoner's stronger than we anticipated-and Boy Wonder's lost the crystal during the scuffle."_

" _ **AGAIN**_?"

There were only two ways to get rid of a Zoner. One was to use the Crystal of EL to draw him or her out of the human body being possessed and cleanly send him or her back to the Phantom Zone, but things hardly ever went smoothly for them. That was where the crystal bullets came in. They were crystalline bullets the young adults had carved themselves from specials crystals in the Arctic Fortress.

The bullets from those crystals didn't send Zoners to the Phantom Zone-they  _killed_  the Zoner's spirits,  _and_  injured the possessed-that was why Clark usually refused to use them even if he was in a situation like this one.

Chloe, through many near-death experiences at the hands of Zoners, had learnt to feel otherwise, and to think with her head in situations like these instead of her heart.

"You disappoint me, Kal-El," the zoner possessing a young eighteen-year-old blonde female announced, sneer on face, voice deep and disturbingly  _male_. "I thought that when I murdered Jor-El's only son he'd have given me more of a fight. You're  _pathetic_."

Clark's face was mixture of worry and pain as he was suspended in the air by the skinny blonde's deadly grip around his throat as she began to choke him with the force of the Zoner within.

" _DO SOMETHING YOU IDIOT!_ " Lois' voice screamed in Chloe's ear, and the blonde wasn't sure  _who_  the brunette was talking to, though it was clarified seconds later. " _Lana's gonna find someone else if you just DIE and I'LL HELP HER!"_

Clark renewed his struggles, looking around, gasping for air, trying to figure out what to do without hurting the body the Zoner was possessing.

"Hey,  _you!_ " Chloe called out, finger on the trigger as the blonde turned, swinging Clark around as well as an ugly sneer appeared on her pretty face.

"You think that  _human_  weapon can hurt me? Mortal?" The Zoner within the female sneered darker.

"Oh, I  _know_  it'll hurt you," Chloe promised, eyes narrowing. "Do you know  _how_  many of the escapees I've sent to  _hell_  with this baby?"

Slight worry crossed those beautiful features.

"Now put my friend down," Chloe ordered, glare unwavering.

"You wouldn't hurt the body of an innocent." The Zoner seemed to be speaking to himself more than Chloe.

"Oh, try me, I'm  _begging_  you." Chloe cocked the gun, ready and willing.

"Regno terrae cantate Deo, soli te Domino, pre fertum super celum... tribute virtutem deo...exorcizamus te...spiritus (admissi) satanica potestas admissi curgio infernalis adversali et omnis letio omnis congregatio et secta(tio)…"

A little distracted by that voice next to her, Chloe's green gaze slide in surprise to see the giant towering over her, blue/green (she  _still_  wasn't sure  _which_ ) eyes narrowed and on the Zoner.

The possessed girl blinked, tilting her head slightly at the man, before throwing her head back and laughing in a deep male's voice. "Are you trying to  _exorcise_  me?"

Chloe blinked. Was  _that_  what those strange words were supposed to do?

Clark continued to gasp for air, trying to pry her hands from around his neck.

" _..perditiones venenam propinare Vade satana inventor et magister omnis ... invocato at nomi santo et tribali nomine quem inferi tremant. A mercedes diavoli libera nos domine, ut ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facies. libertate servire te rogamus audi nos…"_  The young man continued on without breaking stride, reciting the odd words by heart, gaze dark and on the girl/Zoner.

" _Phoenix? What the_ _ **hell**_ _is going on out there?"_  Lois sounded completely worried. " _Screw me being Eyes-Only! I'm coming!_ "

Radio connection was broken before Chloe could tell her cousin to stay the hell where she was.

" _…santé ecclesiae te rogamos audi nos In nominis deus…sanctuario tuus…exert tua virtute et fortitudinem levi sue benedectis deus Gloria patri."_

"Whatever the hell you're doing, it isn't working." Chloe was about to pull the trigger when the Zoner suddenly let go of Clark and collapsed to her knees, moaning, hand on her head.

" _Stop it_!" The Zoner growled, as the stranger started the chant all over again, this time with more strength and conviction. "STOP IT!" The possessed stood and made as if to superspeed towards them when Lois could be seen hurrying towards them, the Zoner turning to  _her_ , sneer lethal.

Eyes wide, realizing that Lois was in danger, Chloe didn't hesitated before pulling the trigger again and again and again, the bullets racing out of her barrel and striking the possessed girl in her shoulder, arm and thigh.

Usually Kryptonians were faster than speeding bullets, but once they possessed human vessels they lost some of that speed, and once the crystals were trained on a Zoner it seemed to follow the Zoner like a heat-seeking missile.

The blonde's brown eyes flashed yellow, as if explosions were happening within her body, an inhuman screech escaped her lips, and then she crumbled to the ground.

"Chloe!" Clark gasped in horror, bending towards the unconscious girl as the tall brunet with the penchant for Latin hurried forwards, making sure that she was alive. "You didn't have to  _shoot_  her!"

"Mul-ZE was going to go after Lois, and  _she_  isn't indestructible, Clark!" Chloe hissed, turning to Lois, who looked shocked and guilty. "I thought I told you  _never_  to come out if we're in a hostile situation?  _You_ aren't indestructible or self-healing Lo!"

Usually Lois would snap back something, but it was true, she was _very_  mortal compared to Chloe and Clark, who both had powers on their side while she did not.

"She's alive." The stranger pulled the injured girl up into his arms. "We need to take her to the hospital. They need to get the bullets out before-."

"They're not going to  _find_  any bullets." Chloe turned to him, eyeing him oddly. Now that they weren't in a life and death situation with a crazed and deadly Zoner on their hands she took a good look at him, and was surprised at how handsome he actually was. "They melted the moment they pierced her and all trace of them will have gone with the Zoner."

" _Chloe_." Lois gasped, obviously surprised that Chloe was letting out so much information.

Usually Chloe was a  _lot_  more closed mouth about what it was that kept them busy during and after school hours, but this guy had been spouting out Latin exorcism rites as if reciting the ABC's, and not only that, the incantation had  _bothered_  the Zoner. She wanted to know that incantation but she doubted he'd impart any information just out of the goodness of his heart.

"Give her over to Clark," Chloe ordered, used to being in control of the group. While Clark was the strongest of the three teenaged vigilantes he wasn't the best at making decisions in tough times, and Lois didn't want the position, so Chloe was their unofficial leader.

The stranger hesitated, untrusting.

"Believe me, she'll get to the hospital quicker if you give her to him." As if to prove that they weren't about to do any more damage, Chloe put away her Kerh 9mms.

There was distrust in those eyes, but the tall male hesitantly passed the unconscious female into Clark's arms-and openly gasped in surprise when Clark promptly went into superspeed and apparently  _disappeared_. "W- _what_?"

"You know of any good bars around here?" Lois wanted to know. She might have only been seventeen, but she was already well versed in all things alcoholic and whenever she felt that there would be a tense situation in the future she'd immediately direct everyone involved towards the nearest bar.

The man looked between the young girls before slowly nodding. "Yes."

"Good, take us there. You'll need a drink after we're done." Lois put the gun she'd been sporting in the waist of her pants and pulled her shirt out over it.

"What about your friend?" The man eyes, completely wary.

"He'll find us." Chloe sighed. "Just take us somewhere we can sit."

The moment they'd found a table in the darkest corner of the impossible sunny college bar Lois flashed the fake I.D. Chloe had had commissioned for the three vigilantes and ordered vodka on the rocks (and after slyly slipping Chloe her gun) had gone to where a couple of college boys were playing pool. The blonde had watched her cousin saunter towards the males while shaking her head. Lois was going to sucker those frats out of their money in  _no_  time.

Chloe turned to the stranger sitting across from her and took a sip of her beer before placing it down on the table. "Okay, this is going to go this way. I'll ask a question, you ask a question. We both have to answer truthfully. How is that?"

He hesitated a second before nodded. "Sounds fair."

"As a show of faith, I'll let you go first." Chloe took another sip of the liquid.

"That wasn't a demon,  _or_  a spirit." The man looked around him nervously before leaning across the table. "What exactly  _was_  it?"

"A Zoner." Chloe had anticipated this question and had already formulated her answer. "Zoners are, believe it or not, aliens who have escaped a prison in space in which their spirits were stripped from their bodies and kept there for certain crimes."

His eyes were wide. " _Aliens_?"

"You thought it was a demon or spirit,  _why_  does  _aliens_  surprise you so much?" Chloe laughed softly, intrigued.

"Well, I've  _dealt_  with monsters and demons and spirits before, but I've always been taught that aliens were pure  _mythology_." The man leaned back against the plush seat, shaking his head of silky brown hair. " _Aliens_. I can't  _believe_ it."

"So you've dealt with  _monsters, demons and spirits_  before," Chloe quoted, eyeing him over her cooled can of Coors. "Why exactly would a nice young guy like you have dealt with all those things in his young span of life  _and_  know-by heart—an exorcism rite  _in Latin_?"

"Why would a group of 'young people' like yourselves play space cops to escaped alien convicts?" He hedged.

"Uh-uh. I asked a question and you have to answer it," Chloe sing-songed.

He was immediately uncomfortable, shifting in his seat. "My—my mother was murdered by something supernatural when I was 6 months old, and my father has dedicated by his life and those of my brother and I to trying to find  _what_  killed her. My brother Dean and I grew up fighting and slaying monsters any other kid our age was told didn't exist-and some no one else has even heard of."

Chloe was silent, wanting to tell him she was sorry for what'd happened to his mother but feeling that he wouldn't appreciate any show of sympathy.

"Answer  _my_ question now." He shook his head, as if trying to get whatever memories he was reliving out of his head, turning his (Green? Blue?) eyes on her. "Why are you guys going after these alien convicts?"

Chloe paused for a split second, trying to find a way of saying this in which it wouldn't give away Clark's secret. "Because we're the only ones who know what's happening." She traced the mouth of her drink with her thumb. "We accidentally opened the doors to this  _space jail_ , and without knowing it we let out a lot of these freaks so it's  _our_  responsibility to fix our mistake."

There was silence.

"What's your name?"

Chloe looked up, blinking in surprise, and not exactly sure why she was so surprised about the question. "Chloe."

He hesitated for a moment. "My name's Sam. Sam Winchester."

"I have one. A Winchester I mean." Chloe ducked her gaze, wondering why she felt so  _shy_  all of a sudden. "It's a Winchester 1200 Defender Shotgun." She paused, grinning. "Lois' father, my uncle Sam, he's a general in the army and never seems to realize that every time she goes to visit him his things end up disappearing."

Sam chuckled, taking a swig at his beer. "So, are the three of you going to college around here?"

Chloe blinked, surprised. She knew that they looked and acted older than they were (at least Lois and her did), but she was still surprised that Sam hadn't seen them for the teenagers with  _great_  false I.D.s that they were. For a split second she opened her mouth to tell him the truth, but seeing the small grin on his face she couldn't get it out. " _No_. Uh, we actually live in Kansas. We only came here to Cali because this is where the Zoner appeared."

"You're from  _Kansas_?" Sam grinned. "No way. So am I."

Green eyes widened as she laughed at the coincidence. "Really? What part?"

"Lawrence."

" _Liar_!" Chloe grinned brightly. "We're from Smallville, that's only a couple of hours drive away."

The door to the bar opened and Clark strode in, his eyes narrowed and worried, surveying the room and only relaxing once he noticed Lois scamming the frat boys at the pool table and Chloe smiling softly at him. The alien smiled back at her and walked up to the table, looking at Sam in slight suspicion before turning to Chloe. "The girl's fine, in the hospital and awake without any memory of what happened." He paused for a second. "Everything okay here?"

"Yeah." Chloe nodded, raising her can of beer as if that should say it all. "Clark Kent, meet Sam Winchester. His family hunts demons."

Clark's eyes widened as he turned to Sam and shook his hand. "And I thought what  _we_  did was weird."

"It  _is,_ " Sam assured him.

Chloe bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing at that before turning to her best male friend. "Why don't you go and get yourself something to drink for a change?" Despite Clark being  _impossible_  to get drunk-alcohol did  _nothing_  for the alien-he  _still_  didn't like to drink.

He was  _that_  much of a good boy.

"Nah." He shook his head, smile sheepish. "I think I'll call Lana. We just took off without warning and she's going to be worried."

Chloe watched him as he turned to leave the bar before calling his girlfriend, and shook her head before returning to attention to Sam. "He's so whipped it's  _pathetic_. Put him up against a Zoner he won't back down until he's won, but one scowl from Lana Lang sends him into a pile of shivering fears and insecurities."

The smile disappeared slightly from Sam's face. "About that-what did you mean when you told your cousin that  _she_  wasn't  _indestructible_  or  _self-healing_? And how can you two fight against those super-powered Zoners anyway?"

Chloe took in a deep breath. "Well, Freak History 101, Smallville is the Meteor Capital of the World. Freak History 102, said meteors have a tendency of  _mutating_  the good people of Smallville and turning them into what I call  _Metahumans_. We Metahumans all have certain unique abilities thanks to years of exposure to the radiation from these rocks."

Sam was silent, leaning over the table, beer forgotten.

"Some have more than one power but most only have one and use their powers for evil, it sets them crazy. Most of the other Metahumans I've met I've had to send to Belle Reeve, prison, or have ended up killing in self-defense." She paused, eyes on her warming beer. "Lois doesn't have an ability though, she's completely normal."

"What sort of abilities do Metahumans have?" Sam asked, no condemnation or disgust in his voice, pure curiosity in his eyes.

"Some have super strength, some have superspeed, some can change their appearance, while others can, believe it or not, suck the body fat out of others." She chuckled softly to herself, shaking her head. " _Me_?" She looked around to make sure no one was looking before curving her fist into an open crescent, concentrating and hiding the green flame of fire that materialized in her palm. "I'm  _hot_."

Sam's eyes widened and before she could warn him he reached forwards and sliced his fingers through the ball of fire, cringing and muttering a curse as it burnt him and he retrieved his hand immediately.

"Sorry." Extinguishing the ball of fire, Chloe reached over the table and took his burnt fingers in her hand, closing her fist over them despite his hiss of pain, feeling her hand heat up as her healing power kicked in. "You should know better than to play with fire."

Sam didn't answer, and when Chloe looked at his face in curiosity she blushed when she realized that his gaze was on her, silent and intense.

Loud groans and shouted complaints from the pool table shattered the mood, and Chloe jerked her hand from around Sam's fingers, quickly reaching for and finishing her beer with one long gulp.

What had exactly  _happened_?

Her heart had jolted up into her throat and she'd thought she'd  _choke_!

"They-the burn-it's  _gone_."

Braving a glance in his direction, Chloe couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she saw him looking at his healed fingers in awe, even  _wiggling_  them slightly. "My code name is Phoenix. I heat up and heal, like the bird. Lois thought up the codename, swears it was brilliance on her part."

Sam smiled.

And suddenly Chloe felt as if her heart had once more done the pole jump and lodged itself in her throat, beating vigorously as those beautiful eyes just  _gazed_  at her.

"Frat boys are so  _easy_!" Lois laughed as she sauntered towards them and slid into the seat next to Chloe, licking her thumb as she continued to count her earnings. "No one can win against my secret technique in pool!"

Chloe smiled, both relieved and disappointed that her cousin had joined them. "The 'flaunt as much cleavage as possible and bend in provocative and distracting positions' secret technique?"

"That very one." Lois grinned without any shame. "Men are pigs, why not use it against hem to make some spending money?"

Chloe grinned. Life was never boring with he cousin around.

"And maybe we can get a motel room for this," Lois announced, folding the bills and shoving them down the front of her blouse into her bra. "I'm too tired to go back to Smallville now. I just want to go somewhere and lay down."

Chloe frowned slightly. "I don't know Lo…"

"Why don't you three spend the night at my place?" Sam suddenly asked, causing the cousins to turn to him in surprise. "You two can have one room, your friend the other, and I'll spend the night on the sofa."

Chloe opened her mouth to graciously decline the offer. She didn't know if her heart could survive any longer in Sam Winchester's presence.

"We could never accept that offer." Lois beat her to the chase. " _Smallville_  will take the sofa. You shouldn't be forced out of your own room."

Sam grinned. "Great."

Chloe was both amused at the thought of Clark's reaction when he found out Lois had kept him from sleeping in a nice bed, and nervous as  _hell_  as she realized that she'd be spending the night under the same room as Sam Winchester.

Her heart continued to beat horrendously fast.

Sam caught her gaze and his grin grew mischievous.

Chloe quickly ordered another drink.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to her healing powers it was hard for Chloe to get drunk. Not  _impossible_ , mind you, but hardnonetheless. Still, she'd done all in her power to try and drink herself into a stupor and thus sleep away the odd sensations that wracked her body while around Sam Winchester, but her mutation just wasn't helping her.

If anything the fact that she was only a  _slightly_  bit tipsy helped her open  _up_  more with the handsome brunette, and made her a complete  _flirt_ -which really wasn't helping her situation one bit.

And it wasn't as if Lois and Clark were running much interference for her. Lois was skunk drunk singing loud and off-key Scottish bar songs, and Clark was busy trying to keep her from disrupting the peace by either starting random fights with the college students and/or vomiting over everything.

"You're an amazing heavyweight despite how  _tiny_  you are," Sam chuckled in awe as he sat back and watched Chloe throw back another shot. "You're only slightly tipsy but you've drunk more than I think  _legal_."

She smiled sheepishly at him before motioning for the waiter for one last one. "It's my mutation. It seems to think that alcohol is some sort of  _poison_  and breaks it up immediately, so it goes through my system harmlessly. Unless I have ingested an insane amount, this has the same effects as drinking sparkling grape juice."

He was silent, both ignoring Clark and Lois as the alien got up and hurriedly helped the girl towards the bathrooms before she blew a load all over the table and/or innocent bystanders.

"What?" Chloe asked, smile shy as she pulled a strand of blonde hair out of her face and behind her ear. "Is there something on my face? You stare at it a lot, you know."

And that was the  _slightly_  tipsy version of her being bluntly truthful.

Sam had the grace to blush and ducked his gaze. "No-I was just thinking. All my life I've resented the lifestyle my father had forced on my brother and I, I wanted to play football or do other  _normal_  things instead of hunting. My father and Dean could never understand that though, they still don't, hunting is their life." He played with his half-empty can of beer. "The moment I got the scholarship to come here I did. My-dad and I got into a huge argument when he found out. He told me that I was just selfishly abandoning them and  _'our'_  crusade, and that if I walked out of that door never to come back."

If she'd been fully functional she'd have realized the dangers in it, but Chloe wasn't thinking straight and was reacting to the pain she could clearly distinguish in every word. The blonde reached forwards and placed her hand over Sam's, tightening her hold on that massive, calloused hand and rubbing her thumb over his skin in a soothing manner.

Sam froze, eyes going to their joined hands, before he turned his hand slightly and gripped hers back.

Color flushed deep on her white skin as his calloused thumb raked over her, sending shivers through her body, jolts of electricity down her spine, and causing the hair on her arms to raise.

 _God_.

Her body trembled in ways she'd never known it could.

And she  _really_  didn't want it to stop-no matter  _how_  dangerous this was getting.

"I came all the way to California to escape the weirdness that was my life, and  _you_  came all the way to California to  _chase_  the weirdness in your life." His voice was lower than it'd been minutes later. "I've always resented how my life was different from others-but you seem to  _like_  how different you are."

She suddenly wondered if she wasn't some abnormal  _freak_  in his eyes, and tried to tug her hand out of his but his grip tightened, trapping her hand within his but not painfully so.

"I admire you." Sam's beautiful eyes rose to hers finally, and they were dark and filled with an emotion she'd never once seen directed towards her before and wasn't exactly sure what it was.

Clark arguing with a drunkenly laughing Lois broke the moment and both pulled their hands away from the other, turning to look at Clark, who seemed irritated enough to  _strangle_  Lois into unconsciousness as the brunette cackled hysterically and patted his chest as if telling him to lighten up.

"It was  _not_   _funny_!" Clark glared, cheeks red from embarrassment as he helped Lois slide into the seat next to Chloe and sat next to Sam. "You threw up on a total stranger!"

"He was stuffy and British, Smallville, he  _needed_  something to liven up this experience!" Lois reasoned, tilting dangerously in the seat, giggling uncontrollably.

Clark groaned and shook his head. " _This_  is why you shouldn't drink so much! You  _always_  end up doing something like this! Maybe you should listen to Lana and get some help."

"Help is for alcoholics." Lois frowned at him, looking more sober now than she had before, which made Chloe wonder if she'd been putting on some kind of act-but when Lois then promptly passed out and collapsed on the blonde Chloe realized that her cousin  _truly was_  as drunk as she seemed.

Clark looked at Lois and then groaned as he leaned his forehead against the surface of the table in  _exhaustion_. " _Thank God_. I thought she'd  _never_  pass out."

The corners of Sam's lips twitched erratically as he was obviously bravely trying to fight the grin desperate to curve his lips.

Chloe watched the battle with slight awe and annoyance. How could a man have such  _kissable lips_? It should be  _illegal_!

Clark's cellular began to ring and he moaned a complaint as he reached down into his pants' pocket to grab it, pressing 'talk' and bringing the small device to his ear. "Clark Kent." He sat up immediately. "She is? Thank you. Yes. We'll be there soon." Pressing 'end' he turned to the others. "The girl who was possessed by the Zoner is awake and wants to talk to us."

Chloe winced. "Hopefully she didn't recuperate her memory of what happened."

Clark's look echoed her words.

"What are we going to do with Lois?" Sam wanted to know, motioning to the brunette who was still passed out on her cousin's shoulder, drooling slightly.

Chloe paused. Lois  _was_  a problem at the moment.

"I'll go do it, you two can get her to the apartment," Clark finally sighed, pulling out something plastic from his pocket. "I gotta give this back to the girl anyway."

Chloe snatched the plastic card and realized that it was the victim's Driver's License. "Hmmm. Her name is Jessica Lee Moore and this license is good for cars and-buses? Why would she need to drive  _buses_?"

Sam leaned forwards and looked at it. "You know, I think I've seen this girl around campus before."

"Well, she  _is_  a student here," Chloe responded dryly, not understanding the flash of jealousy she felt.

Sam looked up at her with a raised eyebrow before suddenly grinning and leaning back against the seat.

Chloe's eyes widened and she blushed, not liking the  _knowledge_  in those eyes.

"Well, I'm going to the hospital." Clark got up.

Sam did as well. "Wait, I haven't told you my address yet."

Clark grinned sheepishly. "That's okay, I know Chlo's heartbeat like the back of my palm, and with that I can find her no matter  _where_  she hides." His grin was soft and tender on Chloe, who was returning the grin. "I'd follow her to the end of the earth so it was a necessity to learn to distinguish hers." And with a quick look around to make sure that no one was watching, he went into superspeed and disappeared.

Sam paused before sitting back down, silent.

Chloe wondered about his somber mood before shaking it off as nothing, about to get up and ask the bartender not only for the bill but for a taxi to be called.

"I thought he was with this  _Lana_  he talked about."

Chloe paused from where she'd been trying to rest the unconscious Lois on the table and somehow get passed her and out of the corner. "Huh?"

"Clark." Sam motioned to where the boy had been sitting mere seconds ago. "I thought he was with the girl Lana, from Smallville."

"He is." Chloe frowned, wondering why this had come to debate.

"But he'd follow  _you_  to the ends of the earth."

She wasn't exactly sure where the question was in that. "Just like I'd follow him, or we'd follow Lois." The blonde tilted her head to the side, sat down once more, and concentrated on a silent, somber Sam. "It's nothing romantic about it you know. Lois, Clark and I-we're like a unit held together by superglue, where goes one go the others. It-it's one of the reasons why it's so hard for us to find someone. Clark's the only one of us so far who's found a partner who accepts that he's only 1/3 of himself without Lois and I."

Sam's somber expression was replaced by an intrigued one. "How did you three become  _that_  close?"

"Well," Chloe leaned back against the seat. "Lois and I were always close. She—she didn't always live with us though. When her mom was alive she lived with her dad, mom, and little sister Lucy. Then when her mom died of lung cancer her dad shipped Lucy off to some fancy boarding school abroad and gave Lois the option of either traveling with him from base to base or living with dad and I in Metropolis."

"She chose Metropolis," Sam assumed.

"Yep, she came to live with us and we grew up like sisters." Chloe rubbed her cousin's head affectionately as Lois drooled on the table. "When I was around thirteen we moved to Smallville when dad was made the manager of the Luthorcorp plant over there, and we met Clark. Lois had missed a year of schooling due to her moving up and down constantly with her father so she was in the same year as us, and somehow we hit it off easily."

The blonde sighed, looking up at the ceiling, not exactly sure  _why_  she was spilling her guts to a practical stranger. "I've always had this ability, and so has Clark, and it only took us a couple of months to discover the other's secret. That cemented our friendship, and Lois was our secret-keeper. She helped protect us and our secrets against any one else finding out. She still has to run interference with Lana and Pete sometimes, but she does it without complaining." Chloe turned a smile on her cousin. "Says _her_ super-power is protecting  _ours_."

Sam smiled softly.

"Anyway, since we were thirteen we've been together and fighting Metahumans, and it's made us a part of each other. We've saved each others' lives more than we can count, we spend more time with each other than anyone else if not studying, fighting Metahumans, or prepping for a date." Chloe grinned before sobering. "So while Lois and I aren't exactly  _fans_  of Lana, we're grateful that she truly cares enough about Clark to let his mysterious ways slide and to accept us and our part in his life without feeling threatened or trying to come in between us." She paused, speaking without thinking. "And  _we_ hope we'll one day find someone who'll do the same for  _us_."

There was silence.

Chloe's eyes widened in horror as she realized what she just said. She turned to Sam, mouth opened to try and salvage some little piece of her dignity when she found him grinning at her before motioning to a waiter and asking for the bill and for a taxi to be called.

"C'mon." He smiled as he finally turned to Chloe, standing up. "Let's go home."

Sam's apartment was small but amazingly  _neat_  for the home of a young bachelor. Chloe held back laughter as Sam (who'd been carrying Lois over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes) lowered her on the bed and she murmured a complaint against broccoli and gerbils-though Chloe had no idea how the two went together.

"She's going to have the hangover from  _hell_  tomorrow," Chloe snickered good-naturedly as she and Sam sneaked a last look at the snoring brunette before closing the door behind them as they went towards Sam's little kitchenette. "The good thing about it is that she'll take it out on Clark and not me." Chloe grinned mischievously as she plopped down on a stool next to the kitchen counter and swiveled around playfully. "She can be  _scary_  when she has a hangover."

Sam looked sympathetic to Clark's future plight before going to his fridge and opening it, peering inside. "You want something to eat?"

"You mean you have more than just beer in there?" Chloe joked, jumping off of the stool and (after kicking off her shoes quite comfortably) walked towards him, peering inside of the fridge and blinking in surprise at how well stocked he was. "First the apartment is neat and orderly  _and_  you have a bit of everything from the food pyramid?" She peered up at him suspiciously. "You  _sure_  you're single?" She blinked, a thought suddenly crossing her mind. "Or  _straight_?"

Sam turned to look at her as if she was insane, and then he burst out laughing. It was a beautiful, long sound, as his arms went around his stomach and he doubled over slightly.

"It wasn't  _that_  funny," she mumbled, grabbing the fridge door he'd let go before it could slam shut.

"I'm… _sorry_ …" Sam somehow managed those words between peals of laughter. He finally pulled himself up straighter and wiped at a tear that'd formed in the corner of his eye. "I-I haven't laughed in a while. I just moved here and things with my family are tense at best and I haven't made any friends as yet…"

Chloe looked at him for a second and sighed, tearing her gaze from the conflict in his eyes and turning back to the fridge. "I'm hungry." Bending she grabbed a couple of vegetables and searched the freezer for meat. "So you're gonna eat with me."

Sam watched her in intrigued silence.

"While I'm not Susie Homemaker, my food's edible," she warned as she put everything on the counter and began to search through his cupboard for the rest of the things she'd need. " _Someone_  has to cook, and since Clark is a disaster in the kitchen and anything Lois touches ends up sending anyone foolish enough to eat it to the hospital, the chore is usually left in my hands. So we should be able to eat whatever comes out of this ventures."

With that proclamation both busied themselves in the kitchen, Sam following Chloe's military-like orders with surprising compliance and ease, and Chloe trying desperately to not forget anything in the recipe she'd memorized for such a time as this. As they worked in surprising harmony and coordination, they shared stories of ghost-hunting and metahuman chasing, laughing at each other's humorous misadventures and gasping in awe at the more serious tales.

Chloe snatched a slice of cucumber Sam was chopping for the salad and nibbled on it as he told her about his first ever hunt, retelling the horror and adrenaline that'd mixed with him during the hunt and kill. She smiled softly, eyeing how his face changed emotions as he told different parts of the stories, sometimes lighting up at comical parts in which he and Dean had gotten into trouble with their dad for being mischievous, and somber when he told how he'd nearly been killed by the ghost.

"Well, dying isn't  _such_  a big deal." Chloe swallowed the rest of the cucumber slice and hurried to the oven when the timer went off, taking out the baking dish with their creation with her bare hands. Thanks to her power she was impervious to heat and fire. "I mean, the pain is minimal, and your body usually goes into shock and that numbs everything."

The blonde grabbed a coaster and headed towards the table with the glass-baking dish, placing it upon the coaster and smiling proudly at it, missing the disturbed look on Sam's face.

"You sound like you know that personally."

Chloe turned towards the brunette and blinked when she realized that she  _might_  have forgotten to tell him  _one minor detail_. "I do. Know what it's like to die." Seeing his eyes go wide she rolled hers. "What part of my codename being  _Phoenix_   **didn't**  you get?"

"You-you come back to life?" Sam stammered.

"Well, not in a burst of flames or anything half as dramatic," Chloe paused, grinning at the thought. "But I have a tendency of not staying dead. It's an attribute in my line of work."

Sam was silent, unable to look at her.

Chloe's heart suddenly  _hurt_. Why wasn't he able to look at her anymore? Had that just been  _too_  abnormal for him to take?

"Does heaven exist?"

Blinking in surprise at the soft question, Chloe was shocked at where his thoughts had gone to during that lapse of silence. "Heaven? You mean a big white fluffy place in the clouds?" Okay, she'd never been asked  _that_  question before. "Maybe, I don't know. I've never been there  _personally_ , if that's what you're asking, but I never tend to stay dead long anyway."

And she suddenly knew why he was asking.

 _His mother_.

She winced. Maybe she should have lied to make him feel better. But it wasn't like her to lie, she preferred to tell and be given the blunt truth, even if it hurt.

Their mood was more subdued now as they sat down and ate their dinner. Silence reigned on the table and amongst the two seated together.

"How many times have you died?"

She dropped her fork, the sound of it colliding against her plate resounding throughout the silent room. "Huh?"

"How many times have you died?" Sam asked again, looking up from his food.

Chloe didn't know how to read this guy. He was completely  _weird_. The moment she thought she had him made he did or said something that left her bewildered all over again.

And  _dammit_  if that didn't make him more attractive!

"Only three times."

He snorted, amusement entering his green/blue eyes. " _Only_  three times? That's a lot for a college student to be able to boast of."

Once again there was the opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding, to tell him that she was not a  _college student_ but a _high school student_ , but the way he was smiling at her made her throat dry up and she didn't want him to stop looking at her that way.

"How have you died?" Sam was now openly grinning, leaning forwards on the table, looking at her in interest.

 _You're weirder than I am_. Chloe smiled. "Um, I've drowned, been electrocuted, and crushed by a giant bookshelf."

" _Crushed by a giant bookshelf_." He raised an eyebrow.

Chloe grinned. "That's actually my favorite one-if anyone can have a favorite memory of one's own death. I just think it's cool to be able to say I was crushed by a bookshelf. Who  _else_  can say that?"

And like  _that_  the somber mood was completely gone and they'd returned to their laughter and jokes as they finished the dinner without a thought to Clark or where he was at the moment. As soon as they finished dinner they got all the dirty plates together and while Sam washed, Chloe dried before beginning to put the plates away.

They should have realized that this domestic atmosphere was potentially dangerous;  _Chloe_  should have known better, but somehow she was  _still_  taken by surprise when Sam came up behind her to reach over and open the cupboard door that had been just out of her reach.

The air around them seemed to heat up without Chloe having activated her powers at all, and she froze, biting down hard on her lip to keep her moan stuck in her throat as he pressed up against her from behind. The electricity between them had been building up towards this moment, and both knew it.

This was it.

The make it or break it.

Sam's hand lowered from the now opened cupboard door and rested on her shoulder, causing her body to tingle where he touched her. Chloe whimpered, the sound escaping her now parted lips before she could even register she was making the sound. Green orbs glided closed as his hands, now on her arms, slowly traced downwards and she felt him enclosing her in his heat, leaning forwards so that his hot breath was on the curve of her neck.

" _Sam_ …" Chloe whimpered, crying out with his lips made contact with the skin of her neck and his hands fell to her hips, pulling her back into him, consuming her. Her hands went behind her and dug their way into his dark silky hair, a hiss of pleasure and pain sounding as he pushed her forwards into the counter, trapping her.

Suddenly she was turned, his lips finding and branding her immediately, stealing her breath and nearly stopping her heartbeat with the taste of him. His hands were on her ass and then she was lifted up, seated on the counter, with him between her thighs.

" _God_ …" He moaned into her lips, hands everywhere and still yet not  _enough_.

Chloe drew him closer by his hair, arching into him, needing more,  _wanting_  more. She wrapped her thighs around him and brought him in closer, bucking against the hardness she felt straining his jeans.

Two things then happened simultaneously.

Unfamiliar ringing filled the night loud and blaring, and there was a respectful knock on the front door.

The two broke apart, flushed, eyelids droopy, eyes darkened, and breaths pants as they looked at each other, for a second ignoring the knocking on the door and the unfamiliar ring tone coming from where Lois was probably still unconscious.

"That's probably Clark," Sam whispered, desire deepening his voice.

"Damn him," Chloe chuckled softly before sliding off of the counter and onto shaky feet. "I—uh, better see what that ring tone is all about." She rushed passed Sam and nearly  _ran_  to the room she would be sharing with Lois, closing the door quickly behind her and leaning against it, taking a deep, calming breath…which wasn't calming her racing heart  _at all_.

What the  _hell_  had just  _happened_?

Lois groaned, reached into her pockets and pulled out a phone that was  _definitely_  not hers. "Why the  _hell_ are you calling me at this ungodly hour of the night- _whoever_  you are?"

There was a moment's silence in which Chloe could make out a frustrated male's voice on the other end of the conversation.

"It's not  _my_  fault you didn't check yourself after our encounter to see if you still had your phone," Lois mumbled, still obviously half-drunk. "You still smell like vomit?"

And that was when Chloe figured out what'd happened. Lois had stolen the cellular of the man she'd vomited on.

 _The_ _ **nerve**_ _of this girl._  Chloe grinned.

"Oh, will you  _stop_  it?" Lois grumbled. "If you're going to insult me do it in  _American_. It isn't any fun if the person you're insulting doesn't understand your insulting her."

Clark's voice could be heard talking amiably with Sam in the living room.

"Listen, I'm still drunk and you're still insulting me in British, so how about this? I'm going to turn this phone of yours off until I sleep out my hangover," Lois announced congenially despite the circumstance. "You call me back when this is on and scream at me then, okay?" She didn't give him any time to answer, promptly turning off the phone and collapsing back to sleep.

Chloe smiled at her cousin, and, not having the courage to go back out there and face Sam after what'd happened, kicked off her shoes and joined the snoring brunette in bed, hoping with some sleep she'd be able to think things clearly and get a hold of her hormones tomorrow.

It didn't help that her dreams picked up where Sam and her had been interrupted.


	3. Chapter 3

"Chloe!  _Chloe_!"

Chloe groaned as a suspiciously chirpy Lois shook her awake the next morning. "Aren't you supposed to be having a helluva hangover right about now?" The blonde groaned, rubbing at her eyes and somehow pulling herself up into a sitting position.

"I  _was_ , but then Sam made this juice thingy for me that he says his  _brother_  drinks whenever he has a hangover-and it's magic!" Lois grinned, shoving Chloe's phone in her face. "Listen to this." She then dialed a number.

Curiosity was always one of Chloe's greatest vices, so she took the phone and placed it to her ear, listening as the phone that Lois had stolen the night before began to ring. It cut off after no answer and went to voicemail.

That was when Chloe realized  _why_  Lois wanted her to listen to it.

" _You've reached the voicemail box of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, ex-watcher of the Watcher Council and current_ _ **rogue demon hunter**_ _."_  There was emphasis (and the deepening of the voice) when the young British male said the last three words in pride.  _"I am currently unavailable at this moment-most probably fighting the forces of evil. If you're calling from the Watcher's Council because you have_ _ **finally**_ _realized that any other watcher sent to the slayer after her previous watcher's firing would have met with the same dismal fate-THANK GOD."_

Chloe wasn't exactly sure whether to grin at the slightly pompous yet entertaining message or be curious about this  _Watcher Council_  and what a  _slayer_  was.

" _If you're calling to report a demon in need of slaying, leave a brief message with the description of the beast, its transgressions, and of course, a contact number-I will try to get back to you as soon as I am done slaying the current evil before me_." The message continued on in a crisp, businesslike manner.

"I didn't even know that you could talk  _that long_  on your voicemail message," Lois snickered, chewing a banana Chloe had failed to realize she'd had with her before.

" _And finally, if you're calling because of any of my past jobs, remind me which job and what the problem is. I have fought much evil and you shall have to remind me which entails your problem."_ He cleared his throat.  _"That is all. Leave the message after the beep."_

Chloe put down the phone and looked at Lois. " _Rogue demon hunter_."

"I know-right?" Lois laughed, finishing the banana. "He called me soon after I got the miracle hangover reliever because he wanted to know if anyone had left him a message. I got curious and hung up on him to see  _what_  his message was like-you know they say that messages show you glimpses of the person who leaves them."

Chloe leaned back against the bed-head. "And what does  _that_  message tell you about this  _rogue demon hunter_?"

"He likes to hear himself talk- _a lot_." Lois grinned. "He's cute, annoyingly smart, and  _can't_  insult a girl in  _American_."

"You learnt about his looks, intelligence  _and_  insulting abilities by his  _voicemail message_?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"No, of  _course_  not," Lois scoffed. "I remember what he looked like  _before_  I vomited all over him-the reason  _why_  I vomited on him in the first place was because I was  _staring_  at him when all the food we'd had yesterday came back to haunt me." And suddenly Lois was  _blushing_. "God, I really didn't make a good first impression, did I? First I vomit on him, then I steal his phone,  _then_  I give him some cheeky verbal-diarrhea when he calls demanding his phone back."

Suddenly Chloe realized something. "You  _like_  him."

Lois froze, gaze falling to the sheets and her fingers slowly traced the patterns on the fabric. "He's a  _rogue demon hunter,_  and an  _ex-watcher_ -whatever the hell that is. He's deep into this world like  _we_  are. He-he wouldn't  _dump me_  or think me  _insane_  if I ever told him what I do."

Chloe paused, realizing for the first time how much pressure this job had placed on Lois, and how it was affecting her personal life.

The blonde reached over and placed her hand on Lois' shoulder. "Lo, Clark and I are responsible for letting the Zoners out,  _not_  you. You can still get out of this and live a normal life, get a normal boyfriend-."

"Don't  _say_  that." Lois narrowed her eyes at her. "You and Clark are my family, we're in this together to the  _end_. I can- _deal_ -with the restrictions that puts on my love life. I-," the brunette sighed, eyes returning to the pattern on the bed. "All I'm saying is that it'd be easier to have a relationship with someone in the same sort of work as me."

Chloe had to admit that Lois was right. It  _would_  make things easier for them if they could find men who were in similar lines of work. Up until yesterday they'd thought that aliens and meteor freaks were all there was out there, but then they'd met Sam-and now  _Wesley_ , and realized that there were  _demons_  out there as well and  _demon hunters_.

"Plus, he's  _really cute,_ " Lois added, a small smile curving her lips before she finally looked up at her cousin. "And what about  _Sam_? Did something happen between you two last night?"

If Chloe had been drinking or swallowing at that moment she would have choked, instead, she just blanched. "Why do you ask that?"

"I  _knew_  it!" Lois exclaimed, pointing a finger at the blonde childishly. "Every time I came out of here he'd perk up and then deflate when he realized it was only me." She looked around as if expecting the conversation to be overheard and scooted closer, lowering her voice. "Spill.  _Spill_! What did you and Gorgeous McHottie  _do_  last night?"

" _Lois_!" Chloe gasped in embarrassment at the lecherous look in her cousin's eyes. "It was  _nothing_  like that! We-," she looked away, blushing. "We might have made out a bit."

"That's my girl!  _Finally_  getting some action!" Lois was so proud it was  _embarrassing_. "You know, I'm actually impressed with Sam. I mean, he looks like one of those sticklers when it comes to rules, and I thought that the moment you told him you were sixteen he'd reign in his hormones or something stupid like-."

Chloe couldn't look her cousin in the face.

And Lois  _noticed_. "Chloe? You  _did_  tell him you're  _sixteen_ , right?"

There was no answer.

" _Chloe Ann Sullivan_!" Lois gasped in horror. "You have that nice guy thinking you're a  _college student_? That's  _deceit_!"

Chloe winced, it sounded so  _ugly_  when Lois put it that way.

"I can't believe you." Lois was shocked. "He's a nice guy, Chloe, and you haven't met any genuinely nice guys in a long time. Don't screw up something good like this before it even has the chance to  _begin_."

Since when had Lois gotten so sage when it came to relationships?

"I know," Chloe sighed, ashamed. "It's just that I really  _like_  him, Lo, and I think - just like you - that the moment he finds out my age he'll either freak out or do the gentleman thing and back away. He doesn't seem like the person who  _wouldn't_  care about that. I'm legal in Kansas, but I don't think I am in California, and California if what matters here."

"Which is why you have to respect his feelings enough to face the situation," Lois replied, reaching over and hugging Chloe, lending her her support in the only way she could. "Smallville's outside with Sam watching the game. I'll tell him to take me home first and give you guys some time alone to talk."

"God, I'm nervous."

"Don't worry Cuz." Lois pulled back and grinned into her cousin's face. "If you and him are meant to be it'll happen, even if you two have to wait until you're California legal."

Chloe honestly hoped that it wouldn't take that long-if it would happen  _at all_  now that she was going to tell Sam the truth.

The phone Lois' had stolen rang furiously and she grinned as she answered it. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce's phone, this is his assistant Lois Lane speaking, how may I help you?" Her grin turned more mischievous at the voice on the other side of the line. "Well, I've decided to answer our phone this way so if anyone's calling for you to exterminate demons or  _whatever_  they will feel like they're contacting someone  _professional_.  _Nothing_  says 'professional' like having a personal assistant."

Chloe shook her head at the brunette who was laughing and heading towards the door.

"Why  _wouldn't_  I call it  _our_  phone? It is." Lois was obviously antagonizing the male and enjoying every moment. "You need help.  _Seriously_  need help and you're lucky that I've decided to assist you with your phone calls. You should be  _grateful_ , I have a  _very_  busy schedule you know."

Lois opened the door, waved bye to Chloe while mouthing ' _Good Luck'_ , and closed it behind her.

Still on the bed, Chloe groaned, nerves killing her.

After she heard Lois and Clark saying their goodbyes and leaving, Chloe took in a deep breath and ventured out of the room. She' fixed her hair, sprayed some cologne on her and chewed some of the gum Lois had left behind her to make sure that she was somewhat presentable for this meeting, which  _really_ wasn't going to end well.

"Hey!"

She looked up and noticed Sam immediately from where he was washing dishes in the sink. "Hey."

"Clark said he'll be back to get you," Sam announced, putting the plate away and grabbing a towel, drying his hands, tranquil smile on his face. "So, you happy to be going back to Kansas?"

She decided to go with this topic and somehow find a way to bring up the point that had her stomach in knots. "Well, I have school to go to, and Zoners to keep an eye out for, so lets just say that I know I'm  _needed_  there and can't stay here on the mini vacation we were all enjoying."

Sam nodded before looking down at his towel. "So, which school do you go to exactly? MetU? Kansas State? I mean, you never told me what you're studying, and I've been trying to imagine you in some career but can't seem to pinpoint any on you."

Chloe's heart raced, he'd brought up the subject without her having to.  _This is it._  "I, actually, I go to Smallville High, and I'm the Chief Editor of the school newspaper."

He was silent, gaze jerking towards her face. "Smallville  _High_."

She gulped, nodding. "I didn't tell you before because we were just acquaintances who probably would never see each other again, but after last night, I-I thought you should know." She took in another breath, trying to calm her heart from where it was beating furiously in her throat making it hard for her to talk. "My name is Chloe Sullivan, I'm sixteen years old, and I'm a high school student."

Sam was still, silent, just  _watching_  her as he let all that information sink in. " _Sixteen_."

 _God_ , she knew that was going to be the point he'd pick up on quickest! "Yes, I'm sixteen."

"Wow.  _Sixteen_." He leaned his hands back against the sink, shaking his head, gaze lowering to the tiled floor. "That's young."

"It's my physical age, yeah, but I've always been told I was born 30."

He chuckled softly, still not raising his gaze from the floor. "I  _thought_  you were young the first time I saw you, but you're so  _mature_  I thought you just had  _great genes_."

" _And_  a great fake I.D," she whispered, not exactly sure how this conversation was going. Sam wasn't yelling at her but he wasn't looking at her either.

"This changes everything." He seemed to be talking mostly to himself. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to come and spend your vacation with me-but you're  _sixteen_." Sam ran his fingers through his hair in his first sign of frustration. " _Dammit_. The  _first_  person I feel like I connected with and she's a  _minor_!"

Chloe  _wanted_  to say something,  _anything_ , but somehow realized that the best thing she could do right now was to keep quiet.

Sam growled and turned his back on her, the hands on the sink gripping it so tightly his knuckles were transparent. His head was lowered, his hair brown silk that fell into his face and hid it from her.

Chloe closed her eyes tightly, fighting the tears. She'd messed everything up!

Minutes passed in tense silence.

"Where do you plan on going to college?"

The question, deep and dark caught her by surprise, and green eyes widened in surprise.

"Huh?"

Sam took in a deep breath as he finally turned back to look at her once more. "When you graduate in two years, when you're  _eighteen_ , where do you plan on going to college?"

Confused and shocked by the question, the blonde found herself tongue-tied, unable to answer him.

Sam's gaze slid sideways to the right, her silence seemingly making him nervous. "You said you're the editor of your school newspaper, so journalism must interest you." He paused, as if regrouping. "We-we have a very good Communication department here in Stanford."

Chloe blinked, gazing at the silent brunette in confusion. "Are—are you asking me to study at Stanford when I graduate?"

Color appeared on those cheeks as he refused to look at her. "Things could have changed from here to then, but if they don't, all I'm saying is that you should  _consider_  it."

"I-I'll  _definitely_  consider it." Chloe smiled, wiping at the tears that'd slid down her cheeks.

Sam cleared his throat and looked at his nails in apparent disinterest. "You'll have to give me your number and email, you know, if you really want me to send you the written form of the exorcism rite."

That smile grew larger and Chloe bit down on her bottom lip to keep the smile from growing stupidly large. " _And_  you'd need a way to contact us immediately in case a Zoner appears in this area again."

"Exactly." Sam nodded, a slow smile fighting its way onto his face as he continued to look down at his nails. " _You'll_  need  _my_  number and email too just in case something  _supernatural_  happens in Smallville, because if it does you'll need my expertise."

"Most definitely." Chloe nodded as well, grinning openly.

Sam finally looked up at her, smile curving his lips.

Chloe frowned slightly, thinking of something. "What if something _does_  change in two years?"

Sam's smile fell from his face. "Then I'll deal with it."

"Or  _I'll_  deal with it." Chloe didn't like the thought.

Sam snorted. "I  _doubt_  that  _you'll_  be the one having to deal with anything. I'm not someone who finds it easy to connect with people, and I've never felt-." He froze, embarrassment and horror on his face.

Chloe's smile returned as she blushed as well. "Yeah, I know how you feel."

His gaze met hers and they were silent, that heat and jolt of electricity zinging between them, pulling them slowly towards each other.

There was a knock on the door and it opened, showing Clark. "Uh, I'm back for you Chloe. We should be going. When I dropped Lois off at your home your dad's car was almost up the driveway."

"Yeah, I'm coming." Chloe nodded to her friend, turning back her attention to Sam. "Well, I-I should be going."

Sam nodded.

"Oh! My contact information!" The blonde quickly looked around and found a pen and a piece of paper-towel, writing her number and email on it, going towards Sam and handing him it. "You know, in case something Zoner-y happens while we're gone."

Sam nodded, taking the folded paper-towel silently.

"Chloe, we  _really_  should go if you don't want Gabe getting suspicious like last time." Clark looked completely oblivious to the undercurrents in this goodbye.

"Yeah, we can't have that again," Chloe agreed. "Bye Sam, it was great to meet you."

"Same here," Sam whispered as she turned and began walking towards a waiting Clark.

Halfway to her alien best friend Chloe froze, sighing in frustration. "Oh  _screw it_." Turning back around, she stalked right back towards a surprised Sam, grabbed his shirt and pulled him down, her lips meeting his hungrily.

Sam froze in surprise but in seconds his arms had gone around her and pulled her off of the floor, holding her to his chest as he took control of the kiss and seared her with his lips. Her hands were in his hair and his arms tightened around her, both hungry and desperate, not knowing when they'd see each other again or what the future held for them.

For right now they only had the present, they had  _this moment_ , and they were  _enjoying it_.

Finally Sam lowered her to the ground, nibbling on her bottom lip in apparent reluctance to let go, but sooner or later they had to pull away, and they did so with sighs.

Sam pressed his lips to hers once more, softly, before pulling away and clearing his throat. "You should get going before you get in trouble with your dad."

Chloe nodded, placing a hand to her burning face. "Yeah, I, uh, should." Smile silly she turned and headed towards Clark, whose eyes were wide in surprise and who was blushing like a virgin at a whorehouse. "Let's go home?"

Clark finally blinked, looking down at her in shock before a mischievous grin appeared on his face, and after waving goodbye to Sam he whispered to her. " _Now_  I understand those sounds I heard before entering last night!"

Before Chloe could slap him on his shoulder for teasing her, Clark had grabbed her and gone into superspeed.

**Five Months Later**

"This Sean Kelvin guy had the ability to absorb heat  _and_  project icy energy? That's two powers, I thought you said it was rare for a metahuman to have two powers." Sam's face was concerned from where he sat in his room, talking to Chloe via Skype, wearing the microphone/earphone hybrid she'd sent him the month before.

"Yes, well, what can I say? It'd be  _unfair_  if I were the only one with more than one ability," Chloe announced with a grin as she relayed to Sam the newest adventure she, Lois and Clark had gotten into. "He latched onto Clark and stole his body heat but I got to him on time and gave him some of mine, so he survived and  _didn't_  turn into ice sculptures like the rest of Sean's victims. It was actually  _Lois'_  idea to use Sean's powers against him and throw him into the lake. His powers sucked all the heat out of the water and froze him inside."

Sam shook his head. "How does your father not realize  _half_  of the things you do over there?"

"Well, he knows about my powers so he knows that I can take care of myself. He trusts me out by myself and gives me my space." Chloe shrugged. "It's better that he lets me have my independence, I love him for it."

Sam smiled, pulling a strand of his hair out of his face. "So where are Lois and Clark tonight?"

"Well, Clark and Lana are on a date." Chloe made a face. "They-they've been having trouble lately since all this stuff we've had to deal with means Clark has to bail on her  _a lot_ -and since he won't tell her about his powers she thinks he's just not that interested in her anymore."

"Why doesn't he just tell her he has powers?" Sam wanted to know. "You say that she genuinely cares for him. He should trust her enough to let her know."

"Don't preach to the choir-I've told him that enough times!" Chloe threw her hands up in the air. "I can only leave things in his hands and see where his decisions take them."

Sam sighed and shook his head.

"And Lois is in her room doing the same thing as us-but, of course, she's annoying  _Wes_." Chloe grinned, thinking about the Brit her cousin had her sights set upon. He had left behind his title of  _rogue demon hunter_  and was now working with a vampire with a soul (go figure) and other old friends of his in L.A.

Chloe had spoken on the phone with not only Wesley, but with a coworker named Cordelia and his boss, the vampire  _Angel_. Well, honestly, she'd called Angel to see what they could do to help Wes meet Lois face to face, since her cousin was acting like a lovesick, moon-eyed  _cow_ , and while it'd been hilarious the first couple of months, Chloe was beginning to take pity on her.

Angel was surprisingly  _nice_  for a vampire, and had admitted that he'd picked up the phone various times to call  _her_  because he  _too_  didn't know how long he could stand listening to Wesley talk about Lois and wondering what she was like in person.

Apparently, while Wesley  _liked_  to act all frustrated and annoyed when talking to Lois, he rather 'fancied' her.

So while there wasn't anything concrete set between Chloe and Angel, both were working secretly to see what they could do to help each other out.

"How is  _that_  going?" Sam asked, grinning, always finding the Lois/Wesley relationship entertaining. Not that it  _was_  a relationship- _yet_.

A timer went off on Sam's end and he groaned. "I have to go to class, talk to you later?"

"Sure." Chloe nodded, sad to see him go. Even though they usually talked every evening she hated to see him go. "Break a leg!"

He hesitated to end the conversation. "We didn't get to talk yesterday evening thanks to  _Sean Kelvin_ -maybe I can skip-."

" _No_. Remember, we talked about this." Chloe shook her head. "Whatever  _this_  is, it won't get in the way of our lives-at least until two more years."

Sam sighed and then nodded. "Okay. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Of course." Chloe smiled, about to end the video chat.

"Chloe?"

She paused and looked at the screen with his nervous face. "Yeah?"

Sam hesitated, conflict darkening his eyes before he took in a deep breath and looked at her. "I'm falling in love with you." And then he disconnected as fast as his reflexes would allow him to.

Chloe froze, shocked,  _surprised_ …

A smile slowly made its way on her face as she blushed and ducked her gaze. "I think, Sam Winchester, that I'm falling in love with you too."

Getting up, she went to her bed and laid down, hugging her pillow to her heart with a contented sigh and looking up at the ceiling, still smiling.


End file.
